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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Strong-Disorder Magnetic Quantum Phase Transitions: Status And New Developments, Thomas Vojta
Strong-Disorder Magnetic Quantum Phase Transitions: Status And New Developments, Thomas Vojta
Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works
This article reviews the unconventional effects of random disorder on magnetic quantum phase transitions, focusing on a number of new experimental and theoretical developments during the last three years. On the theory side, we address smeared quantum phase transitions tuned by changing the chemical composition, for example in alloys of the type A1-xBx. We also discuss how the interplay of order parameter conservation and overdamped dynamics leads to enhanced quantum Griffiths singularities in disordered metallic ferromagnets. Finally, we discuss a semiclassical theory of transport properties in quantum Griffiths phases. Experimental examples include the ruthenates Sr1-x …
Rare Regions And Griffiths Singularities At A Clean Critical Point: The Five-Dimensional Disordered Contact Process, Thomas Vojta, John Igo, José A. Hoyos
Rare Regions And Griffiths Singularities At A Clean Critical Point: The Five-Dimensional Disordered Contact Process, Thomas Vojta, John Igo, José A. Hoyos
Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works
We investigate the nonequilibrium phase transition of the disordered contact process in five space dimensions by means of optimal fluctuation theory and Monte Carlo simulations. We find that the critical behavior is of mean-field type, i.e., identical to that of the clean five-dimensional contact process. It is accompanied by off-critical power-law Griffiths singularities whose dynamical exponent z' saturates at a finite value as the transition is approached. These findings resolve the apparent contradiction between the Harris criterion, which implies that weak disorder is renormalization-group irrelevant, and the rare-region classification, which predicts unconventional behavior. We confirm and illustrate our theory by …